The Biden administration imposed trade bans on five Chinese entities over forced labor allegations in Xinjiang, the White House said on Thursday, citing the G7's recent pledge to clean up the global supply chain.
It banned US imports of a key solar panel material from Chinese-based Hoshine Silicon Industry Co and separately restricted exports of "commodities, software, and technology" to Hoshine, three other Chinese firms and the paramilitary Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), saying they were involved with the forced labor of Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups in the Chinese province.
The US Department of Labor also added polysilicon produced with forced labor in China to its "List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor".
"These actions demonstrate our commitment to imposing additional costs on the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for engaging in cruel and inhumane forced labor practices and ensuring that Beijing plays by the rules of fair trade as part of the rules-based international order," the White House said.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said separately: "As we made clear during this month's G7 summit, the United States is committed to employing all of its tools, including export controls, to ensure that global supply chains are free from the use of forced labor and technology is not misused to abuse human rights."
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, reacting to earlier reports of the US action, said on Thursday that China would take "all necessary measures" to protect its companies' rights and interests.
The three other companies added to the US economic blacklist were Xinjiang Daqo New Energy Co, a unit of Daqo New Energy Corp; Xinjiang East Hope Nonferrous Metals Co, a subsidiary of Shanghai-based manufacturing giant East Hope Group; and Xinjiang GCL New Energy Material Co, part of GCL New Energy Holdings Ltd.
At least some of the companies are major manufacturers of monocrystalline silicon and polysilicon used in solar panel production.
The White House, in its statement, said the entities' practices ran counter not only to American values but also tipped the scales against US workers "by exploiting workers and artificially suppressing wages". It noted the Biden administration's push to boost the US solar industry.
Having the US Customs and Border Patrol seize imports from Hoshine was "based on information reasonably indicating that Hoshine used forced labor to manufacture silica-based products," it added.
Hoshine Silicon Industry earlier said on an interactive investor platform that it does not export industrial silicon to the United States directly, which would limit the ban's impact.
Xinjiang Daqo New Energy Co, in an email to Reuters, said it had "zero tolerance" towards forced labor, and does not directly sell or buy from the United States so there would be no "significant impact" on its business.
